A Mulliken woman who was driving a car in which her fiancé was killed in 2011 was sentenced Tuesday in Ionia County 8th Circuit Court to serve 12 to 60 months with the Michigan Department of Corrections.

Shayna Baker, 32, could be sent to Special Alternative Incarceration (SAI) Boot Camp after she serves eight months for three additional months. She also received costs, fines and fees, plus $450 in restitution, with additional restitution amounts reserved.

Baker pleaded no contest July 17 to one felony charge of operating while intoxicated causing serious injury. A second charge of possession of methamphetamine was dismissed.

"This was not an accident. This was someone driving under the influence of a substantial amount of meth," said Prosecuting Attorney Ron Schafer during Baker's sentencing. "(Baker's) previous criminal history shows this was bound to happen. This is a sentence that has been earned. There was a death here and she is responsible for that death."

According to an investigation by Michigan State Police, Baker was driving on Keefer Highway near Clarksville Road in Sebewa Twp. on Jan. 13, 2011, when she lost control of the vehicle due to slippery roads, crossed the center line and was hit by an oncoming car. Her passenger, Scott Schafer, 40, of Portland died at the scene.

Baker then "disappeared," said Schafer, until she was booked into the Eaton County Jail on a suspicion of marijuana charge. Baker was turned over to Michigan State Police on Jan. 9, 2012, and returned to the Ionia County Jail.

According to 64-A District Court records, Baker has two prior convictions for operating under the influence of alcohol/unlawful bodily alcohol content in 2001 and 2006. Two other 2006 charges, one for driving while license suspended and one for open alcohol in a motor vehicle-driver, were dismissed.

Baker's attorney, Jeff Winters, called the incident "tragic all around," adding that the amount of methamphetamine and its impact on Baker's system still is in question, and that the weather conditions the night of the incident were "awful.

"(Baker) has taken responsibility in the criminal justice system. She feels pain, and she can only imagine what (Schafer's) mother and son feel," said Winters. "She has to live with this the rest of her life, with the guilt and the loss of someone she loved."

Schafer's mother and son wrote letters to Chief Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger on Baker's behalf.

"I am truly sorry," Baker said through tears. "I understand the Schafer family's great loss. We have suffered the loss, too. I accept full responsibility."

Kreeger noted Baker's previous involvement with the court.

"Those were opportunities to embrace the battle against addiction. You didn't," she said. "Now we are faced with an unnecessary death. For that reason I find a prison sentence appropriate. I encourage you to wage that battle now, to overcome your addiction and to be the person you were intended to be."